Environment

Environment

6:00 am

Sat February 4, 2012

RISE takes listeners on a journey of the San Francisco Bay: underneath the surface to swim with harbor seals and phytoplankton, overhead to soar with a million migratory birds, and along the coast to explore marshlands and skyscrapers that ring the Bay. On the way, this program addresses the impact of climate change. Projected sea level rise, snow pack melt and increased storm surges threaten to flood the Bayâ€™s coastlines, including roads and airports, shoreline cities, the Financial District and Delta farmlands.

Environment

12:01 am

Wed January 18, 2012

A truck passes shipping containers at China Shipping at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the busiest port complex in the U.S., near Long Beach, Calif. Stricter emissions standards have cut down on air pollution from the trucks, which has been one of the most significant sources of air pollution in California for many years.

Energy

5:53 pm

Thu January 12, 2012

A screen shot from Ethical Oil's OurDecision.ca campaign, which calls on Canadians to write to Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver asking him to ban foreigners and "their local puppet groups" from appearing before ongoing public hearings for a new pipeline project.

Yet another foreign government has accused Americans of meddling in its internal affairs. It says U.S. donors are bankrolling local political activists, and it may be time for a crackdown on the political influence of outsiders.

Environment

2:32 pm

Thu January 12, 2012

An Indian street dweller prepares food on the streets of Kolkata. A growing number of scientists say that reducing black carbon â€” mostly soot from burning wood, charcoal and dung â€” would have an immediate and powerful impact on climate.

Politically, climate change is off this year's campaign agenda. Jobs, the economy and social issues are front and center.

But scientists are working as hard as ever to figure out how much the Earth is warming and what to do about it. Some now say it's time for a new strategy, one that gets faster results.

Talk to Durwood Zaelke, for example. Zaelke is a grizzled veteran of the climate wars: He was in Kyoto in 1997 when the world's nations drafted a treaty promising to curb warming, and he has watched that promise fizzle while the planet's temperature continues to rise.

LCHIP funding

6:17 pm

Thu December 15, 2011

The stateâ€™s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, or LCHIP, has funded 23 projects across the state. But this could be the last year the program exists to help protect everything from historic buildings, to forests, Â to farms.

The LCHIP managers say about $1 million in state money has leveraged about $ 13 million in projects.Â Executive Director Dijit Taylor says one unusual site involves a farm on the stateâ€™s western border.

â€śIt includes two islands in the Connecticut River, one of which has the potential to be a campsite for people canoeing down the river.â€ť

Laffer Carbon Tax

5:17 pm

Wed December 14, 2011

If there is a patron saint of modern Republican tax policy, it is economist Arthur Laffer.Â Laffer is best known for the Â Laffer Curve â€“ a graph of the theory that under the right circumstances, a cut in tax rates produces higher tax revenues.Â Â The Laffer Curve was the keystone of Â so called Reaganomics.

Laffer was in Manchester today to present a very different idea â€“ one that so far Republicans have been slow to embrace.Â

The vote of confidence came during the Seabrookâ€™s annual required press briefing.

Spokesman Alan Griffith said the failed cooling system pump that prompted the plantâ€™s shutdown in October has been fixed. But he said engineers continue to assess possible deterioration of concrete underÂ one plant section, an electrical tunnel.. Griffith says a core sample turned up what is called Alkalide silica reaction, or ASR .

Environment

3:29 pm

Tue November 15, 2011

TheÂ Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative faces an uncertain future in some states. New Jersey plans to end its participation and New Hampshire has considered legislation that would do the same.

ButÂ a new analysis shows the carbon dioxide cap and trade program has saved consumers money and created jobs. Under the program, power producers buy pollution allowances at auction for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit.

Environment

5:31 pm

Thu November 10, 2011

Â New Hampshireâ€™s U-S senators helped defeat a measure to unwind new regulations to clean up air in the Granite State.

The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to prevent unhealthy smog and soot from coal fired power plants in 27 states from spreading to other states. The EPAâ€™s cross-border pollution rule would force those states to drastically cut their emissions.

But tea party backed Kentucky freshman Rand Paul forced the Senate to vote on unwinding those new rules to protect his coal rich home state.

Weeks Act

10:00 am

Wed March 30, 2011

At the turn of the 20th century, forests in the White Mountains were being clear cut and many were worried about the damage logging had done to the Whiteâ€™s.Â The Weeks Act of 1911, helped protect these forests by the purchasing of land by the federal government.Â Over time standards were set as to the amount loggers could log in the state.Â Although they adapted, there have been challenges to the industry.Â There has been the debate over logging in road less areas of the White Mountain National Forest as well as the change in industry in the North Country.

Weeks Act

12:00 am

Wed March 30, 2011

In commemoration of the centennial of the Weeks Act, NHPR is looking at the impact the federal legislation has had on the state and its largest forest. The Weeks Act gave the federal government the authority to buy private land to turn into the National Forest system. While the law is typically appreciated by conservationists, it was business interests that drove its passage. And one hundred years later, the law has had a large and positive economic impact on the North Country, providing jobs and improving the quality of life. NHPRâ€™s Chris Jensen reports.